Every Minute Matters: What Nielsen’s New Three-Minute Rating Qualifier Means for Public Media

Effective with the January 2025 PPM survey for radio, Nielsen changed its minimum listening/viewing qualifier from five minutes down to three minutes. Before January, Nielsen’s official ratings didn’t count any listening to a radio station that lasted less than five minutes within a 15-minute period. Since the modification in January, Nielsen now includes shorter listening occasions in their official radio ratings, now counting any listening that lasts three minutes or longer within a 15-minute interval. While the methodology change is primarily associated with radio, it’s worth noting that Nielsen also uses similar principles for measuring television viewing. This change, from a five-minute to a three-minute listening minimum could reflect a larger trend towards capturing shorter engagement periods across different media platforms. 

Here’s how the change may strengthen corporate support sales efforts:

• It demonstrates that attention spans are changing. 
• The three-minute minimum recognizes more listeners than did the previous five-minute qualifier. 
• Radio station ratings in the first quarter 2025 are showing more actual listening. 
• Ratings are up. They are the highest they have been since 2022 and are approximately 15% higher than Q4 2024 levels.
• Listening levels increased across all demographics in Q1 2025 when compared to Q4 2024, according to Nielsen.
• More listeners return more impressions. This creates an increase in impressions for underwriting radio schedules.

Tammy Greenberg with the RAB says:

“More impressions delivered to a highly attentive and connected target audience will drive (and has been proven to drive) even better outcomes and insights from the top to the bottom of the marketing funnel.”

Who has the most attentive and connected radio and TV audience? Public radio and TV. Average TSL (time spent listening) is highest on public radio and TV. 

• It’s time to remind current and prospective business supporters of the strength and reach of public radio and TV.
• Leave fragmentation behind and use public media with one of the best TSL or time spent streaming.
• Choose a trusted and tried-and-true environment for your message.
• Unlock listeners you are not reaching elsewhere.

Here are three RAB one-sheets you can use to demonstrate the impact of the lift resulting from Nielsen’s new three-minute listening qualifier.

• Every Minute Matters
• Laser Focus on Radio Strength
• Audience Lift: Impact to Action

Every minute matters!